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The World's Happiest (And Saddest) Countries

What is happiness? Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, wrote, “Happiness is a warm puppy.” John Lennon had a different take: “Happiness is a warm gun.”

Whatever happiness is to you, there’s some conditions under which it most readily blossoms. You need enough money to acquire a puppy or a gun, and enough free time to exalt in its warmth. You need the peace of mind that Big Brother isn’t about to come around the corner and take your gun (or puppy) away from you. And because fun things are even more fun when shared with others, you’ll be even happier if you have a family that encourages your passion, or at least a local chapter of the NRA or Kennel Club to hang out with.

A few years ago the directors of the Legatum Institute (part of billionaire Christopher Chandler‘s Dubai-based Legatum Group) were thinking about the wealth of nations. “We found ourselves asking two questions,” says spokesman Julian Knapp. “First, why have some nations — given a similar start — become more successful and wealthier than others? And having recognized that life is about more than simple material satisfaction, the second question: why are some nations happier and more satisfied than others?” Indeed why had Ghana and South Korean, having shared similar GDP’s in the 1950s, gone in such different directions, with Korea’s now $39,000 per capita and Ghana’s just $3,000.

After studying 40 years of data and outcomes, they settled on eight areas – the ingredients of prosperity: economy, entrepreneurship, governance, education, health, safety, personal freedom and social capital. Then they looked for reliable data from the likes of the Gallup polling organization that would let them rank countries on their performance in these areas. Add up the scores and you get the Legatum Prosperity Index.

In its recently released 2011 index, billed as an “inquiry into global wealth and well being,” Legatum ranks 110 countries on their overall level of prosperity. These countries comprise 93% of global population and 97% of GDP.

At No. 1 for the third year in a row: Norway. What’s it got that the rest of the world doesn’t? For one thing, a stunning per capita GDP of $54,000 a year. Norwegians have the second-highest level of satisfaction with their standards of living: 95% say they are satisfied with the freedom to choose the direction of their lives; an unparalleled 74% say other people can be trusted.

Cynics say Norway’s ranking is a fluke, that it’s a boring, godless (just 13% go to church), homogeneous place to live, with a massive welfare state bankrolled by high taxes. Without massive offshore reserves of oil and gas that it exports to the world through state-controlled Statoil, Norway’s GDP would be far smaller.

Natural resources help: Australia, which ranks third, is benefitting greatly from selling its coal, iron and natural gas to China. And yet some of the most resource-reliant nations, like Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, are far down the list. There’s clearly more to it than oil and ore. Joining Norway and Australia in the top 10 are their neighbors Denmark, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand. Equally small and civilized Switzerland and the Netherlands are also up there. Rounding out the top 10 is the United States at 10th and Canada (sixth).

What do these nations have in common? They are electoral democracies, for one. People are naturally happier when they feel like they have a say in how their countries are run. They also have abundant civil liberties (consider decriminalized drugs and prostitution in the Netherlands), though if your happiness is a warm gun you’ll be happier in the U.S. than in Europe. There are few restrictions on the flow of capital or of labor. Legatum’s scholars point out that Denmark (No. 2), for example, has little job protection, but generous unemployment benefits. So business owners can keep the right number of workers, while workers can have a safety net while they muck around looking for that fulfilling job.

Legatum’s researchers note that Australia’s rise from fifth in 2009 to third place exemplifies these positive traits. The Aussies have abolished trade protections, freed labor markets, reformed strict immigration laws and become one of the world’s most flexible economies.

Of perhaps utmost importance, nearly all the nations in the top 10 are adept at fostering entrepreneurship and opportunity. Legatum’s researchers concluded that a country’s ranking in this area is the clearest proxy of its overall ranking in the index. This means low business startup costs, lots of cellphones, plenty of secure Internet servers, a history of high R&D spending and the perception that working hard gets you ahead. The U.S. stands out with a fifth-place rank in entrepreneurism and first place in health, thanks to the world’s highest level of health spending, great vaccination levels, clean water, plentiful food and beautiful scenery.

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Not a criticism of Forbes staff necessarily (although you are presenting something as if you have digested it, but not questioned it too much.) I take issue with the survey’s finding of the U.S. as no. 1 in health – based on vaccinations, water and *health care expenditure*? How about something based on *outcomes* rather than potentially wasted healthcare funds? If you look at the rates of lifestyle disease we suffer from (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, infant mortality) and life expectancey (which is self-reported by nations, and so subject to controversy, but…) you will find that we are FAR from being the healthiest nation per capita! How can you overlook such a gross discrepancy? This calls the methodology used into serious question in my opinion.

This is such a deceitful survey… pakistan shld not hve been in the bottom five considering the role of countries dat are in the top 10. pakistan is in this state because of USA inerference. This country doesnt want it to flourish it just want it be its slave!!! Pakistan is blessed with more natural resources then any of the other countries like Coal, Natural gas, salt mines, uranium and lot more even oil which yet to be discovered. Its blessed with abundand natural beuty even the highes peaks in the world like K2. It just dnt hve a good leadership and its all thxx to USA who wants all these resources and dnt want good leadership in this country. So it either get them killed or thrown in exile!!!Pakistan is a victim a child which is being molested but its still not an unhappy country and it shld not be even named here unless USA is termed as a terrorist and and a bully!!!

I agree, the author is showing bias against Pakistan by listing it in saddest place on Earth. I ask have you been to that country. I’ve been to that country many times, and Pakistan happens to be one of the most beautiful countries of the world. The only sad part is how unfairly it is always presented in the Western media.

Sitting in Houston in your Cozy office or home, you have no idea what you are trying to convey. No reference is given regarding which study the author used to establish the results.

Such myopic, enthnocentric views presented in this article contribute to propagation of biased agenda of the author only.

“Saddest Countries” list in my opinion is very inaccurate. Perhaps its a language barrier issue for me but I don’t agree with how Forbes defines happiness/sadness. The fact that Ethiopia was labeled as the 3rd “saddest” country in the world while the USA is 10th happiest is hilarious to me. I have lived in both countries and in the time I have lived in America I observed that: every other person was on anti-depressant pills /seeing a shrink , shootings at schools/parking lots, suicides over bullying, thousands of abducted children, serial killers…. One would think that these are the REAL indicators of a “sad” nation. On the other hand, in the time I lived in Ethiopia, the fact that it was one of the poorest nations in the world was evident and there were so many people living off so little money BUT the reality is that I had NEVER heard of children shooting each other at schools,I don’t even know the Amharic (official Ethiopian Language) word for ‘depression’ , never heard of a serial killers either….the “reasoning” used by Forbes in labeling this nation “Saddest” was “Literacy is just 30%; undernourishment 40%; unemployment rate 20%. ” So according to Forbes these 3 numbers defines how how happy or sad 80,000,000 Ethiopians are–ridiculous in my opinion

Despite the “ statistics” stated, the overall conclusion/list is biased and based on the ‘Western’ perspective.

I wonder what criteria was used to arrive at such opinions. I have travelled to a number of countries on both ends of this list and I have noted that happiness is not always about riches or the standards of life. I find this survey very misleading.

As a citizen of Taiwan, I feel so pleasant that Taiwan is the 20th happiest country in this article. However, I’m so sure that photo on http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mef45ejmi/20-taiwan/ is not taken in Taiwan, it looks more likely in Nanjing, Chian. Please confirm and alter this photo. Thanks

I guess you forget a country Cuba, the situation is worse than in Haiti and Zimbabwe, thousand are living the Island and more will go if they had the opportunity, the country return back 100 years , no food, no future, the new generation has only one idea, to get out the country. The industry built during the Capitalism is collapsing, the corruption is growing and the hope is gone, the favelas are growing, and the new regulations and laws that Raul Castro is taken is only cosmetic.Cuba has a lot of problem in old the fields, but the big problem is that the population lost the hope and trust in the guys who for 52 destroyed the country.The so claimed Education and Medicine programs are a fake , all is falling down.

The author only shows his own view point about the world and thinks the world revolved around him. That mindframe only damages your credibility as a professional author.

Pakistan is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Its the biased viewpoints like of this author’s which is the most Sad part.

I assume the average reader of Forbes is smart enough to research on their own, that take someone’s biased opinion in place of facts.

Just Search, Gilgit-Baltistan, Lake Saif-ul-Malook, Northern Areas of Pakistan, Faisal-Mosque, etc. to view the beauty of Pakistan on Youtube, or other search engines. Many European tourists, particularly, Germans, can’t resist conquering the K-2 peak in Pakistan, the World’s Toughest Mountain to climb, it the 2nd tallest mountain of the world, but even more challenging than Mt. Everest, due to steep gradient, and German love the challenge more than anyone in the World. Thats a fact :)